R.E.A.D. stands for Reading Education Assistance Dogs ® and is a program started by Intermountain Therapy Animals (ITA), a nonprofit organization in Utah, in 1999 with a pilot program in an elementary school in Salt Lake City. They currently have over 800 teams and associated teams across 42 states and Canada.

The mission of the R.E.A.D.® program is to improve the literacy skills of children through the assistance of registered therapy dog teams as literacy mentors.

The Reading Education Assistance Dogs program improves children’s reading and communication skills by employing a powerful method: reading to a dog. But not just any dog. R.E.A.D.® dogs are registered therapy animals who volunteer with their owner/handlers as a team, going to schools, libraries and many other settings as reading companions for children.